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Two Men Shot, Killed in Woodlawn Neighborhood

July 18, 2017

(Chicago Tribune) Two men were shot dead on a “nice, quiet block” Monday afternoon in West Woodlawn and about an hour later two more people were shot in Chatham, authorities and neighbors said.

Officers went to the 6300 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue about 2:50 p.m. and found one man with a gunshot wound to the head, out in front of a residence. Police went around to a rear gangway and found another man unresponsive with gunshot wounds to the back and arm, according to a police media notification.

Both of the men were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Earlier in the day, John Moore said he was talking to his neighbor about how quiet and peaceful it is on their block. Seven hours later, there was a double homicide near East 64th Street and South St. Lawrence Avenue.

“I guess I talked too soon,” said Moore, who has lived on the street for 45 years.

His neighbor Theresa, who was afraid to provide her last name, nodded her head in agreement. She had been in her kitchen when she heard about a dozen shots. The retired teacher, who was born and raised in the neighborhood, said it sounded to her like rounds from two different-caliber guns.

Another neighbor, who lives a few houses down, thought the kids down the street were playing with fireworks.

“That sounds like gunfire,” Ray Hope said to himself at the time.

He poked his head outside and saw several kids playing — but he didn’t see the aftermath of the shooting about 100 yards away from the kids who were playing in the street and in his home.

As a father of two, he said he’s shaken because the block is full of older people and families.

“I knew it’s not the greatest neighborhood, but I thought this was a nice, quiet block,” the 44-year-old-said.

For now, he said he plans on keeping his kids inside at least until the neighborhood quiets down.

Closer to the shooting scene, about a dozen officers blocked off the street. Yellow crime scene tape was tied to black metal gates.

A little girl in a light blue dress peered from her porch to get a closer look. She was too short to see the body covered by a white sheet a few houses down.

Moore’s assessment of the street as a safe and quiet refuge is an accurate depiction of the past five years.

Monday’s double homicide was the first shooting in the 6300 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue since a man was killed there in April 2012, according to Tribune data.

More recently, a man was killed in the 6200 block of South St. Lawrence in January 2014.

About an hour after dispatchers first sent investigators to West Woodlawn, they were called for a second double shooting.

Just before 3:40 p.m. police were called to the 7900 block of South Michigan Avenue in Chatham because two men were shot while they were walking down the street, according to a police media notification.

A 35-year-old man was shot in the left thigh and a second man, who police estimate was about 50, was shot in the hand and the leg, officers said. The men both were taken to Advocate Christ Memorial Hospital in Oak Lawn, where their conditions were stabilized, police said.

The men told detectives they had been walking when two men they didn’t know walked toward them and started shooting in their direction.

In another shooting in West Woodlawn, an 18-year-old woman was shot about 4 p.m. in the 6100 block of South King Drive, according to a police media notification. She was shot in the foot and taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition. The woman told police she was standing outside when she heard shots and felt pain.

No one is in custody in connection with either shooting incident and detectives continue to investigate.